Floor-laying tool.



J. B. FORD.

FLOOR LAYING TOOL.

APPLICATION man 050.14, 1915.

Patented Dec. 5, 1916.

3mm JliR/wl.

be readily placed in position for use or reaacoe Bureau, 0F BO'RDELONVILLE, LOUISIANA.

" FLOOR-LAYING' Toot.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 5, I916.

' Application filcf Dceember 14, 19'15. SeriaI NQ. 66,801.

To all whom it may com-em I Be it known that I, JACOB B. F0111), a citizen of the United States, residing at Bordelonville, in the parish of Avoyellesan'd State of Louisiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Floor- Laying Tools; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear,and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to new and useful improvements in floor laying tools and the principal object of the invention is to provide a device'which is adapted to be used for forcing floor boards together and insuring the proper fit of the tongue and groove of the boards.

Another object of the invention is to provide a device which is readily applicable to buildings, and which may be used without in any way modifying the building construction.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a device which is adapted to moved to be transported.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists in the'novel combination and arrangement of parts which will be fully set forth in the following specification and accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a perspective view of the tool constructed in accordance with this invention, and Fig. 2 is a fragmentary sideelevation thereof.

Referring to the drawings by characters of reference the numeral 1 designates as an entirety the frame or brace of the device comprising the arms 2 and 3, which are separated at their rear ends by the cross bar 4 and converge toward their forward end as shown in the drawing.

The under sides of the forward ends of the arms are inclined upwardly as at 5 and a plurality of alining openings 6 are formed in the arms for the reception of the pivot of the lever which will be more fully hereinafter described. I

A pair of alining openings 7 is formed in the arms and receives the pivot pin 8 of the stake designated generally by the numeral 9, which stake comprises a body 10, the lower end of which is provided with a point 11, while the upper end is provided with a head12 formin'ga'shoulder 13. This shoulder 13 is arranged to form a latch for "engagement with" the lever to hold the same "in its operated position.

The lever above referred to is designated by the numeral 14 and comprises a body 15, the upper end of which is provided with the handle portion 16 while the lower end is formed with an opening for the reception of the pivot pin 17 and is beveled as at 18.

It will be apparent from the foregoing that in use the device is placed on the upper edges of the joist and the point 11 of the stake is driven into one of the joists to firmly hold the device in place whereupon the user moves the lever to a vertical position and sets the same in its outermost position by moving the pin 17 to extend through the openings at the extreme forward end of the frame. Upon swinging the lever rearwardly, it will be seen that the forward end thereof will engage the floor boards, thus holding the same into engagement with the next adjacent board so that the tongues and grooves of the boards will become inter locked. It will be seen that the lever will hold the boards in proper position while the same are being nailed due to the fact that it is swung to such a position as to engage behind the shoulder 18 as illustrated in Fig. 2, and in this manner the flooring may-be easily and quickly laid. As the flooring is laid it will be noted that the pivot pins 17 may be withdrawn and placed through the openings 6 in the rear of the foremost opening and in this way, the lever and fulcrum will be moved rearwardly as the floor laying progresses without the necessity of changing the position of the whole device.

While in the foregoing there has been shown and described the preferred embodiment of this invention, it is to be understood that such changes may be made in the combination and arrangement of parts as will fall within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is V a 1. A floor laying tool comprising a triangular frame, a stake mounted in the frame near its apex, a lever pivoted in front of the stake,means to adjust the pivot point of the lever, the lower end of said lever being adapted to engage the floor board upon the rearward movement of the upper end of the lever to force said floorhoard Copies of this patent may be obtained for the same into proper position with relation to the next ad aCent floor board and a head on the stake forming a shoulder, said shoulder holding the lever in its operated position.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

. JACOB B. FORD;

Witnesses: Y

J. S. BRANCH HENRY WALKER.

five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

